Warriors roll the Broncs for Homecoming victory

WORLAND - The weather was wet, cold and miserable, well, miserable for the Jackson Broncs (1-3) as they went up against the WyoPreps No. 5 ranked Worland Warriors (3-1) and the Warriors routed their 3A West conference rivals 42-13.

The rain wasn't letting up Friday night and neither were the Warriors, as their punishing defense and physically, unrelenting offense wrecked the Jackson Broncs securing a homecoming victory for the second straight season.

With the night's dominating performance WHS football coach Todd Weber was proud of his players and how they executed the week's game plan. "We wanted to establish the run inside, it was something we worked on all week," said coach Weber, "Our kids were excellent tonight, they were doing their job and playing hard. We played hard for 48 minutes and our kids took it upon themselves to do their job and when things got rolling they kept at it."

From the start of the game the Warriors made the Broncs know whose field they were playing on as senior Brad Lyman picked off a Jackson pass on their opening drive. Worland proceeded to march down the field picking up chunks of yards and capping off the drive with a Daniel Araiza rushing touchdown.

That would be the first of three rushing touchdowns for Araiza on the night.

After Worland's second offensive possession stalled senior Kyle Lamb sent a booming punt down on the Jackson 1 yard line, unfortunately, the punt was called back due to an illegal formation. On the rekick Jackson blocked the Lamb punt then scooped and scored but on the PAT the Broncs kicker put the ball too low allowing for the Warriors to block the kick and maintain a 7-6 lead.

The Warriors took the ensuing possession down to the Jackson 5 yard line but were not able to finish off the drive with a touchdown. Lining up for the field goal, the slick football slipped past holder Talon Lloyd but into the hands of kicker Lamb. Lamb scrambled and threw the ball to Lyman who would have hauled the pass in if not for a Jackson defender deflecting the ball at the last possible moment.

Worland's defense again forced Jackson into a turnover as Lloyd picked off another pass this time off a deflection and brought it to the Jackson 14 yard line. However, the Warriors struggled to turn the turnover into points, giving the ball back to the Broncs on the Jackson 4 yard line. But the Warriors defense came up huge as they forced a fumble and senior Matthew Sanchez recovered the ball on the Jackson 2 yard line.

This time the Warriors only needed one play to punch it in as Lloyd ran in for the score. Jackson ran a few plays to end the half down 14-6.

In the second half Worland turned up the heat on the Broncs and ran away with the game in the third quarter. The difference in the second half was the Warriors ability to force turnovers and convert them into points. The Worland defense had another interception, a blocked punt and another fumble recovery, all resulting in touchdowns by either Lloyd or Araiza.

Starting the fourth quarter Worland held a commanding 34-6 lead and would expand on that with a safety by Sanchez and a 39-yard rushing touchdown by junior Hayden Lambeth.

Worland's win puts them in control of their playoff fate and with a showdown against conference foe Cody next Friday, the Warriors have the opportunity to take another step closer to achieving their goal of making the playoffs. For coach Weber, his staff and his team they're going to keep playing it one game at a time. "We're going to continue to keep taking it one game at a time," said coach Weber. "We're going to take it a step at a time but we'll certainly enjoy this win tonight."